Beijing Pollution: Back to the Past?

We Beijingers have been spoiled in the last few months, with many gloriously clear and minimally polluted days. Today we got a rude reminder of how awful the city can still be. The air smells like a garbage fire and at four o’clock in the afternoon visibility dropped to a few hundred meters. I’d be willing to bet the API must be well into the hundreds. Yuck. I haven’t posted a picture from my window for a while, mostly because the air quality had improved so much. Here’s a shot from my new place that makes me think of London in the late 19th century. Pea soupers and all that.